Even Magic Is Alchemy
by DWF
Summary: Edward and Mustang go to Hogwarts to investigate a branch of alchemy, which the users call 'magic'. Mustang's a teacher, and Ed not-quite a student.
1. A new branch of Alchemy

Ed was waiting at King's Cross railway station, tapping his foot impatiently. He was supposed to meet Colonel Mustang here. He was scanning the crowd for a blue uniform when he heard a familiar voice behind him. "You sure you can see everything from down there?"

Ed turned around, facing Mustang. The latter was wearing plain brown pants, a white shirt and a brown jacket. Ed stared for a moment, trying to comprehend the image of the Colonel in civilian clothes. After a few seconds he snapped out of it. "So Mustang, care to tell me why I have to travel halfway 'round the world – by boat, of all things – to a country where they've never even heard of alchemy, and everyone uses freakingly advanced technology, just to meet up with you?"

"Fullmetal, if you just have a little more patience ("I'm not small!"), then I'll have the chance to brief you about this mission."

Mustang was smirking, but when Ed grumbled "just get on with it," he became serious again.

"We're here to investigate a new branch of alchemy-"At that point, Ed interrupted him.

"Wait a minute, we? D'you mean I actually have to work together with you?"

Mustang looked at his pissed-off subordinate and smirked again. "Yes. Orders from higher up, nothing I can do about it. So suck it up, will ya?"

"Grmbl." Ed sat down on the bench he had been standing on. "So a new branch of alchemy. What d'ya mean with new?" Mustang sat down next to him.

"I mean that people of our country only recently discovered the existence of it."

"And how is it different from our alchemy?"

Mustang hesitated, "well…" Ed looked at him weirdly. Colonel Bastard was actually not overconfident about something?

"Well what?" He asked him impatiently.

Mustang sighed. "They wave sticks and say words and call it magic."

"What?" At first, Ed thought he'd misheard it. What kind of insane alchemy was that?

Mustang continued. "I'm not done yet. They call theirselves wizards and witches and their magic can achieve feats which are impossible with our alchemy." This surprised Ed.

"Like what?"

Every trace of a smirk was gone from Mustang's face. "Like making inanimate objects float."

All of the surprise Ed had felt before was now replaced with curiosity. "How do they explain it?"

Mustang was silent for a moment. "They don't."

The scientist in Ed was suddenly very angry at these people. "What? They make things float but they don't care how they do it?"

"Yes, and there's something else. They use no apparent equivalency."

Ed's face went pale after that one. "What?"

"That's what I thought. But we're here to figure out how they do it." Ed calmed down a bit. "And how're we gonna do that?"

And the smirk was back again. "We're going to go back to school."

"You're kidding, right?" Ed certainly hoped he was. He had been to elementary school, and that was enough for him.

"I'm serious, Fullmetal. We're going to a magic school."

Ed snorted. "If you think I'm gonna learn how to wave a stick, then you're wrong, Colonel Basterd. No way that's gonna happen."

Mustang had expected that. "I thought so. Good thing you don't have to, then."

Ed looked up, confused. "What? But you just said-"

"That we're going to a magic school." Mustang interrupted him. "Not that we're actually going to learn it."

"What are we gonna do there, then?"

"Well, I'm gonna be teaching stuff, for which you, in return, can have access to the library and can sit in on lessons to figure out how it works. What?" He looked at Ed, who had almost fallen of the bench with laughter.

"You, a teacher? What are you gonna teach those kids? How to procrastinate through their homework?"

Mustang smiled at the thought of all the paperwork he could not do now. "No, I'm going to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"But how are you gonna teach how to wave the sticks without doing so yourself?"

Mustang smirked evilly. "Oh, I think I'm mainly going to teach them what to do when you're attacked and not in the possesion of a wand."

Ed sat back again, and looked around the railway station. "So tell me, why are we here? Do we have a train to catch?"


	2. Late

**A****/N: Hi people! I have a beta-reader now!** **Her name is Ochibi-chan, and it's really nice of her that she takes the time to beta this (so thanks once again :D). **

** And this is kind of a filler chapter, sorry, it's just that there are a lot of explanations to be made. Like about why Amestris is so far behind qua technology, for example.** **And a bit about the languages, because I don't think Amestrian is the same as English. Or German, for that matter.**

**And it's still really short, but I just can't write long chapters, and that's not going to change anytime soon, so you'll just have to live with it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter, or any of the characters used. They belong to Hiromu Arakawa and J. K. Rowling respectively.  
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><p>Ed was sitting in the library, reading a book about modern sciences. He'd been there for an hour and a half, desperately trying to pound as much information in his head as humanly possible. He wanted to be prepared for whatever was out there, and not just the magic. Mustang had given him a brief explanation (that took about an hour) of everything he'd found out about magic so far. He'd also revealed that the 'Hogwarts Express' didn't leave for another three hours, but he'd wanted to be sure that Ed was briefed properly, so he'd told him to be there at 8 o'clock. Then, Mustang had shown Ed how to get to platform 9 ¾, which had been Ed's first - rather shocking – experience with magic.<p>

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><p>"Platform nine and three quarters? Are you sure?"<p>

"Positive. And you won't believe how you have to get there."

"What? How?" Mustang didn't answer. Instead, he walked to the barrier between platform nine and ten. When he was only a few meters away, he broke into a sprint. At first, Ed thought the guy had gone mad. Mustang was so close to the wall now that he wouldn't be able to stop even if he tried. Ed watched as he hit the stone… and went right through it. Ed immediately ran to the wall and began to investigate it, only to jump back startled when his hand plunged right through it. How was that possible? There wasn't even a transmutation cir- no, of course there wasn't. If things were as simple as that, the Amestrian army wouldn't send two of it's best alchemists to investigate it. So, how _was_ it done? There had to be something fulfilling the purpose of a transmutation circle, even if the thing wasn't an array.

Ed glanced at a clock that was hanging nearby. It was only three past nine. He still had almost two hours before the train would leave. He could either go to the hidden platform and ponder about it on the train, or he could go into the city and look for a library, so he could get some actual research done. It occurred to him that the Colonel would probably have some books with him, but he'd still have plenty of time to read those on the train ride. And he was sure that Mustang would understand. He wasn't one for sitting still for long periods of time anyways. Or at least not on a train that wasn't moving when he was burning with curiosity. So, the library it was.

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><p>And that's how Ed ended up where he was now. He had moved on to a book about the progression of technology of the last century, and he was soaking up all the information like a sponge. There was one thing that he did wonder about though. If Amestris knew about these countries, then why was the technology in his home country still so far behind? Why didn't they use spy satellites, and had no Amestrian set foot on the moon yet? But a similar thing could be wondered about why in this country not everyone used alch- <em>magic<em>. Mustang had told him that only a part of the population could do it, and most of the non-magic folks didn't even know it existed. That was probably why they were so advanced when it came to technology – they didn't have anything else. Amestris had it's alchemy, and England had it's technology. That would also explain why Amestris didn't copy it – the army was afraid of losing it's alchemists. They were a very valuable asset for a country constantly fighting multiple wars at the same time. But even so, there probably was a secret branch of the army dedicated to extremely advanced war technology. It just wasn't used against countries like Drachma, Creta and Aerugo, because it wasn't necessary.

Ed finished reading the book, and finally decided to glance at a clock that was hanging nearby. To his surprise – and shock – it was already ten to eleven. He'd have to run if he wanted to make it to the train in time. He carefully put the book back on the shelf – holding books higher in regard than most people - and then rushed out of the shop. He bumped into someone on the street, and quickly muttered an apology before dashing of again. He raced down the street, and barely avoided getting hit by a car around the corner. When he finally made it to the station, it was three to eleven. He ran to the right platform as quickly as possible, elbowing quite a few people who were in his way while doing so. The station surely was a lot more crowded then it was this morning. He looked at a clock – it was one to eleven. The barrier between platform nine and ten came into his line of sight – just in time to see two boys with heavily loaded trolleys crash into it.

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><p><strong>Beta'd by Ochibi-chan. <strong>


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